This talk surveys the RISC‑V isolation toolbox—spanning PMP/ePMP, SPMP, privilege levels, virtualization, Risc-V Worlds, and emerging Supervisor Domains—and shows how these mechanisms can be combined to build scalable, composable security and safety systems beyond traditional privilege separation.

RISC‑V has steadily developed a rich and diverse set of isolation mechanisms, including ePMP for physical memory protection, privilege levels for execution control, page‑based virtual memory for scalable address isolation, hypervisor extensions for virtualization, and Worlds for hardware‑enforced compartmentalization. Each of these tools addresses different isolation challenges, from resource‑constrained microcontrollers to full server‑class systems.

Modern platforms increasingly demand fine‑grained, composable isolation rather than coarse, monolithic privilege separation. Mixed‑criticality systems, safety‑certified embedded platforms, and confidential computing environments all require isolation techniques that can be layered, combined, and adapted to different threat models and deployment constraints.

This talk presents a toolbox‑oriented view of RISC‑V isolation.

Supervisor Domains are introduced as an emerging architectural direction within this toolbox, exploring finer‑grained isolation within supervisor mode itself. While still evolving, Supervisor Domains illustrate the broader move beyond privilege levels toward more modular and composable execution domains and provide a useful lens for understanding how future RISC‑V systems may further decompose trusted software.